Coach, player, director, and volunteer, the late Carmen Bush had a wide and varied sporting career, but will be remembered most for the enormous impact he had on the lives of countless young athletes – teaching the values of sport, discipline, sportsmanship and teamwork.

Carmen was born in the west end of Toronto in 1912 to Italian immigrant parents. As a boy, he loved sports and organizing them. At the age of 10 he started a league of street teams. By the age of 15, he picked one of those teams and formed the St. Francis Bantams. He was also an outstanding pitcher and even spent a year in Sudbury pitching in the Nickel Belt League.

Carmen became associated with the Columbus Boys Club in the early 1930s… and for more than 40 years was a volunteer, Athletic Director and finally Director of the club. Many sports including boxing, football, hockey and softball teams were managed at the club. He was a coach, official and administrator in many minor sports organizations but his first love was baseball.

Carmen served as secretary-treasurer and registrar of the Toronto Amateur Baseball Association for more than 50 years. He was instrumental in assisting new associations as they formed and grew in the suburbs. He founded the Boys Club League, the old Toronto Minor Baseball Association, the Oldtimers Baseball Association and the Western City Baseball Association.

Carmen was honoured by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, and named a Life Member of the Ontario Baseball Association in 1996.

Carmen, who passed away on in December of 2001, was a long-time resident of Etobicoke. Ladies and gentlemen, Carmen Bush, inductee into the 2006 Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame.